Modern Princess: I'm No Cinderella
by pensandink
Summary: At East High, if you had a mechanical problem, you talked to Cinder, because she was the best mechanic in town. At East High, if you were a typical girl, you clung to Kai, because he was the hottest single guy around. (Maybe it's not surprising she swore the first time they met.) [Highschool AU] [T] [Kaider-centric] [Multichap]
1. Cinder Swears

**A/N: If I owned the Lunar Chronicles... well, they wouldn't be quite as good as they are now. Pfft, there would be exploding llamas in them. Unfortunately, there are no exploding llamas in the Lunar Chronicles, so... **

At East High, if you had a mechanical problem, you talked to Cinder, because she was the best mechanic in town.

At East High, if you were a typical girl, you clung to Kai because he was the hottest single guy around.

Maybe it's not surprising the first word she ever said to him was 'shit.'

. . . .

She was playing Flappy Bird on her cracked iPhone the day he met her. She was leaning against the wall in all her grease-stained glory, the volume the highest it could go. Not very many people liked Cinder, and, because of that, not many people were around her.

He walked up to her. Startled, she dropped her phone. It made a sad dying noise as Flappy Bird hit a pole and died.

"Shit, you killed me," she said, picking up her phone. She slipped her phone into her tattered messenger bag, and then blew her long bangs out of her face.

"Uh, sorry. You're Cinder, right?" he asked.

"That would be me. What can I do you for?" At Kai's baffled look, she grimaced. "Crap, wrong choice of words. What I was trying to say…" She paused, looking for the right words. "No guy talks to me just 'cause they want to talk to me. Spill."

He was surprised, to say the least. Here he was, the most popular single guy at East High, and she was looking right into his eyes, not... elsewhere.

She snapped her fingers in his face. "Hello? Anyone in there? I don't have all day!"

He came out of his daze. "Uh, my laptop's broken, I think. It crashed a few days ago and I've been trying to fix it."

She snorted. "With what? Online how-to manuals?"

Kai's face flushed and she tried - and failed - to suppress her laughter. He scowled and she laughed harder.

People were starting to get curious - why was Kai, the most popular guy, talking to Cinder, easily the least popular girl at East High. And why was she laughing?

Taking a deep breath to calm her, Cinder slowed her laughing. "Great stars, you're hilarious," she said, chuckling. "So, can I see it?"

"See what?" He wasn't used to girls having such an odd sense of humor.

"Your laptop."

Right. "Oh, yeah. Right. Um, here it is," he muttered, pulling out his prehistoric laptop. It was an old Dell, and once she saw it, Cinder smirked.

"Y'know, for someone so-" she gestured at him "-I'd have expected a more expensive laptop. A MacBook Air, maybe?"

"I like Windows. And Windows 8 is too complicated for me to understand."

"Yes, because we can't have Emperor Kai straining his little mind too much," she joked, taking the laptop from him.

He rolled his eyes and handed her the laptop.

"I can tell you what's wrong tomorrow and give you a timeframe on when it'll be done," she said. "I'm kinda busy fixing cars and stuff so it might be a while. I hope you backed all your stuff up, 'cause my repair job could take up to a month, what with all the junky cars in this town."

Kai nodded shortly. A month? She was that busy?

"In the event that I don't come to school tomorrow, which is highly likely, 'cause my stepsister Peony is sick-"

"Wait, your stepsister is Peony? Like, Linh Peony?"

"Yeah, why?" Cinder asked.

"Oh, um, nothing."

An awkward silence ensued.

"Well, that's awkward," he muttered.

"I guess you know where to find me," she said. "I'll probably be in the garage, sick or no, in case you decide to drop by."

"Sure," he said.

Another pause.

"Well would you look at the time," Cinder exclaimed, looking at her bare wrist as if there was a watch there. "Gotta go! Bye!"

And with that she was gone.

. . . .

True to her word, Cinder wasn't there the next day. Apparently, she was sick. Pearl – her other stepsister – clung to his arm while telling him this. Stars, this was getting annoying. Even after only about twelve hours he was missing Cinder's up-front way of talking, instead of the other girl's subtle hints and prods.

Slamming his locker shut with his non-Pearl arm, he swung his bag onto his shoulder, 'accidentally' knocking her off his arm, which was slowly losing feeling. "Sorry," he muttered.

. . . .

After booking it to his next class, Kai found he was wishing the day were over so he could go talk to Cinder. She was probably the only female – aside from his dead mother – whom he'd actually _wanted_ to talk to.

During lunch, he sat with Thorne, Jacin, and Wolf, his only real friends at this stupid school.

Thorne was probably Kai's best friend ever. He was tall, blonde, and the captain of the basketball team. Although very annoying, he was kinda nice once you got to know him.

Jacin was _so_ sassy. It was like he was made of pure sass, he was _that_ sassy. Surprisingly, he'd only managed to get one detention the whole trimester, compared to Kai's four.

Wolf was the captain of the track team. Lean and wiry, Wolf lived up to his nickname. He was mostly quiet, but got very aggressive very quickly. He was someone to be avoided when mad.

"So," Thorne said as Kai sat down. "I heard you were talking to Cinder?"

Another thing about Thorne. He kept trying to get Kai together with a girl.

Jacin wiggled his eyebrows. "Now there's a girl to go for."

"Just shut up, Jacin."

Jacin looked offended. "Excuse me? What is the world supposed to do without me talking?"

"Be thankful."

Thorne snorted. "Great stars, you two are hilarious," he said, snickering.

"Why do you sound like Cinder?" Kai asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"She said that earlier."

"No wonder," Thorne mumbled, shoving a bite of Mystery Meatloaf into his mouth. "Ugh, this is disgusting."

"This _is_ nasty," Wolf said, his first contribution to the conversation aside from a simple 'hi.' "Why can't they serve, like, steaks or something?" He frowned at his plate. "Or better yet, beef tenderloin?"

Kai shrugged. Then a thought hit him. "Why did you say 'no wonder,' Thorne? Why is that not surprising?"

"Oh, she didn't tell you? We used to be best friends back in middle school. Thick as thieves, they called us. They say I get my sense of humor from her."

"Oh." Another thought struck him.

If Cinder's sense of humor was similar to Thorne's, and Thorne's sense of humor was why Kai was friends with him…

Shit.

. . . .

After school, Kai ran into Thorne. Literally.

"Ah, shit," Thorne said, dropping his bag on the ground. "Thanks a lot, dude."

"I was looking for you," Kai said without preamble. "I need to talk to Cinder."

Throne arched an eyebrow. Kai was jealous – for all his popularity, he couldn't arch one eyebrow to save his life. "Now you _need_ to see her. I see how it is."

"Shut your trap."

"Okay, okay. You owe me, though."

"Fine."

. . . .

The two boys, being sophomores, couldn't drive without an adult; and, without a ton of adults around, they mostly rode their bikes. Kai knew where Cinder's house was, but didn't know how to find Cinder.

Thorne lead the way as they cycled. "You know, dude," he called over his shoulder, "you're pretty pathetic. You're, like, smitten."

"Am not!"

"Are too. I should totally call you Prince Henry."

"Prince Henry," Kai said incredulously.

"Y'know, the name of the prince in the Cinderella story?"

"His name was Henry? How do you know that?"

"I just do. Suck it, Prince Henry."

They lapsed into silence, Thorne making snide remarks occasionally.

"Oh, look, here we are," Kai said, silently thanking the stars that he didn't have to put up with Thorne's joking anymore. "Now what?"

"We find the music," Thorne said.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"So many questions. Shut up, Prince Henry, and let me listen."

"Okay, okay. Fine. I won't say anything."

"Shush."

Kai raised his hands in an 'I surrender' gesture and shut up.

After a few moments of silence, Thorne's eyes lit up with glee.

"Ha! She hasn't moved her garage! The little liar!" Thorne crowed triumphantly, hopping on his bike.

"Uh, what?" Kai asked, but followed Thorne.

The Linh estate was huge – sprawling gardens, a fountain, a fancy marble staircase – but it was mostly silent. That is, except for the pounding music coming from a detached garage.

"See, told you," Thorne said, hopping off his bike. He lowered the kickstand absentmindedly. "We follow the music. It's really not that hard."

Kai could barely hear him. Bastille's _Pompeii_ was too loud. "Can somebody turn that down?" he said, but directed it at Thorne.

Thorne smiled and scampered over to a touch screen mounted on the wall. That was obviously Cinder's space – standing toolboxes, an enormous touch screen, a desk covered in metal bits and pieces.

The other wall was an artist's studio – reference pictures and finished drawings tacked up on a huge corkboard. There were tons of pencil cups, all with a different set of pencils. A huge set of colored pencils was on the right side of a girl with bright red hair.

The back wall was a writer's workshop. Pencils, erasers, a cup of steaming coffee, a half-eaten blueberry muffin, and hundreds of loose papers scattered all over the place. A blonde girl with long, tangled hair was focused on a laptop.

Thorne grinned devilishly and pressed the pause button on the touch screen. There were three simultaneous groans – one from the girl with the red hair, one from the one with the blonde hair, and one from… underneath the car?

"Asshole!" Cinder, who was the one under the car, swore. She chucked a screwdriver in Kai's general direction, missing him by maybe two inches. Kai yelped and Thorne snickered.

The blonde girl, going back to her work, glanced up. "Uh, Cinder, there are two of them."

"Fine. Asshole_s_!" A clang. "Wait, crap, I need the screwdriver. Quick!"

Kai scrambled to get the screwdriver. He handed it back to Cinder.

"Not fast enough, dickhead! Ow! Scar, are you busy?"

"No, I can grab the med kit," the girl with the red hair said. She opened one of the cabinets above her and grabbed a white box.

Cinder, on a mechanic's creeper (the roller things that mechanics use to get under cars) rolled out from underneath a Corolla.

"There'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me," Cinder muttered, standing up. "The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter."

"Yeah, nobody cares, Cinderella," Thorne said.

"Whatever, Flynn." A pause. "Wait, what are you doing here, Flynn!?"

"What's with the nicknames?" Kai asked.

"Hi, Kai." Cinder glanced at him, but returned her attention to Thorne. "What the fuck, dude? Why are you here? Now, of all times? I'm busy, and you know it."

"Here, Cinder," the redhead – Scar? – said. She tossed Cinder the first-aid kit. Cinder opened up the first aid kit and one of the cabinets. Using a mirror on inside of the cabinet door, she cleaned a cut above her eyebrow.

"Yes, I know you're busy. Suspension, Corollas, blah, blah, blah. It's not my fault Prince Henry here wanted to see you."

"You guys fight like you're exes, swearing and all. Shut the fudge up, I'm trying to write," the blonde said.

"We're not exes," Cinder and Thorne snapped.

"Really. Sure seems like it," another girl said. Kai hadn't noticed her. She sat in the corner, thinking, but facing the wall so all he could see was a few curls of black hair.

"Shush, guys," the redhead said. "This guy's arm looks like an eggplant and I'm trying to fix it."

"Fine, Scar," the blonde retorted. "We'll just listen to Cinder and her brother fight like-"

"Wait. I feel like I'm missing something here," Kai said, confused.

Four pairs of eyes blinked at Kai.

"And now you don't tell him the whole flipping story!" Cinder yelled at Thorne.

"Geez, Cinderella, no need to go all PMS on me," Thorne muttered.

"I heard that!" all four girls yelled.

"You know what, I think I'm gonna come back later," Kai muttered. "This is just a little too weird."

Even with the interruption, Thorne and Cinder were still yelling at each other. He swung himself onto his bike and started home.

. . . .

An out-of-breath Thorne caught up to Kai a few moments later. "What was that for, dude?" he panted. "Do you know how angry Cinder gets?"

"Well, obviously not, because I wouldn't have gone otherwise. I don't take kindly to almost being impaled with various metal tools."

"Oh, come on, Cinder won't hurt you unless you turn her music off."

"Which you did."

"Okay, fine, but you asked me to."

"Dude, were you even planning to tell me she was your _sister?_"

"Eh… no, not really. Besides, we're only half siblings. As Cinder would put it, 'brother from another mother.'"

"_O_kay. I did _not_ need to know that."

Despite his flushed face, Thorne managed a grin. "What? My dad sleeping around too much for you to handle? Geez, Kai, suck it up."

"Well, _Cinder's brother,_ not all of us can swear like a sailor," Kai said, switching into a higher gear.

"Well, _Prince Henry,_ some of us can."

. . . .

It only occurred to him once he got home that he never asked what was wrong with his laptop.

. . . .

**A/N: A few notes:**

**. Cinder is Thorne's sister because it's an AU. **

**. Likewise, Peony is Pearl's twin because it's an AU.**

**. And the Linhs are higher-class, because it's an AU.**

**. Prince Henry is actually the name of the prince in the Cinderella story. Look it up.**

**. Cinder's cracked phone: Cinder doesn't bother fixing her phone because she doesn't have a warranty – if you break your screen and you have a warranty, then it's free; no warranty means you have to pay ($100+). Since Cinder pays for most of her (mechanical) stuff by herself – remember, she's the best mechanic around – she doesn't feel like paying for her cracked phone screen, since it's not her highest priority.**

**. I feel like Cress and Kai would get along really well, but Cinder and Thorne are my brOTP.**

**Thanks!**

**pensandink**


	2. Scarlet Makes Dresses

**A/N: Wow guys I just wrote that a while ago because I felt like it. Such feedback! I appreciate it a lot.**

**Got many requests to 'finish the story.' No worries, I will – I plotted it, even! This is a miracle – I never usually plot things!**

**Disclaimer: If you ever wonder what the Lunar Chronicles would be like if I wrote them, don't even ask. It'd be completely insane, with no aforementioned plot.**

* * *

><p>Cinder wasn't happy.<p>

Anybody could tell, really, because she was stabbing at a particularly stubborn screw in an old laptop (not Kai's, she would be infinitely more careful with his for a variety of reasons) that she'd gotten for Christmas maybe two years ago.

The battery drained after about an hour, the keys were falling off, and the display had little light areas on it from where she'd hit it against something clunky. She loved it dearly, though, because it was one of the only things from Thorne she'd ever gotten.

Which brings her back to thinking about her infinitely annoying younger-by-three-months brother. She was stabbing the laptop because of him, after all, because what kind of brother _ignores you_ for _three whole freaking years_ and then suddenly just _shows up_ claiming that this other guy needed help?

He even dared to use her old nickname.

She wasn't even sure how that had come up. She thinks it came from that time when she snagged her old leather boot on the edge of the wrought iron railing on the outside stairs. She'd subsequently fallen down the stairs and lost her boot.

Thorne had laughed.

"_Ha, ha," he'd said, his face scrunching up in what Cinder assumed passed for a smirk, but his chubby five-year-old face couldn't really pull it off. "You're such a stupid head. You're like Cinderella."_

"_I am not a stupid head!" Cinder screamed. "You're the stupid head!"_

Yeah. Those were the days.

Cinder sighed and put her screwdriver down. Her head was throbbing like it did right before she started crying, and she silently commanded herself that she wouldn't break down.

Not like her stupid laptop.

"Uh, Cind," Cress said, glancing up. Cress's real name was Crescence, which was a peculiar name, but when her four-year-old sister couldn't pronounce it quite right it turned into Cress. "If you're done destroying the laptop, I have something to show you."

Cinder sighed. "Might as well."

"Could I pull it up on the main screen?"

"Yeah. Iko, hook up to Cress's laptop."

"Copy that!" the cheerful voice crackled over the speakers.

Iko was the artificial intelligence program in the main computer. Thought up by Winter and programmed by Cress, Iko recognized Cinder's voice only.

Cinder hated Iko sometimes, but couldn't deny that it was helpful to not have to reach really high to close the windows on the main screen, which took up most of the eight-foot-high wall.

_Connecting, please wait_ showed up on the bluish screen, accompanied by a gif of an android rolling back and forth. Scarlet had drawn it, and Cress had animated it.

Cinder waited impatiently for a few moments before Cress said, "Aha!" and a duplicate of her computer desktop showed up on the main screen.

It was an email.

Cinder groaned internally. Whenever Cress had something important that involved an email, it was never very good. Like that chicken chucker incident.

It's a long story.

This one, surprisingly, wasn't about the four of them getting into huge trouble. It was a party invitation from ktorin hotmail .com.

_Kai's 16__th__ Birthday Masquerade Ball,_ it read.

Cinder pinched herself, then hit her head with the base of her hand twice to see if it was actually what she was seeing.

It was.

_You're Invited!_

_Kai's 16__th__ birthday will be held at _… and Cinder skipped that part, because Winter was their unofficial event planner.

_Wear a mask and formal attire. This is an anonymous event._

Cinder groaned out loud. Formal attire. Not exactly her strong suit.

_There is no need to RSVP – the whole high school is invited._

_See you there,_

_Konn Torin_

She had no idea she'd been reading out loud, but Scarlet murmured, "Konn Torin? Sounds familiar…"

"Yeah, he's that dude," Cress said, snapping her fingers. "The lawyer guy? I think?"

"Right, the lawyer dude," Winter added. "The Channary case? Anybody?"

"Not everybody reads court cases, Winter," Cinder snapped, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. She knew all about the Channary case. "And not everybody remembers everything. What's with everybody being invited?"

"New mail from kaito emperor .com to thatmechanic mashines .com!" Iko chirped.

Cinder asked Iko to disconnect from Cress' laptop and open it up.

_Dear Cinder,_

_So I forgot to ask – what exactly was wrong with my laptop? I'm afraid Thorne made it much harder than it needed to be._

_Because I am currently discussing finances (bleh) I am writing to you from my formal email address._

_Please don't write back to this one – the whole committee will hear. Besides, Dad checks my formal email once every week, and I don't feel like deleting any emails from you._

_Email me back at shutupandletmerun gmail .com, which is actually Wolf's email but he lets me use it._

_Sincerely,_

_Kai_

"Uh, who's Wolf?" Scarlet asked.

"I think he's one of Kai's friends. Uh, Cress, what was wrong with it?"

"I don't know," Cress said, frustrated. "Can't get it to start up. I've tried all of my different methods."

Cinder sighed. "Okay. Iko, write an email to shutupandletmerun gmail .com from thatmechanic mashines .com."

"Okay!" the disembodied voice chirped. "What do you want me to say?"

Cinder swallowed and started talking.

_Hey Kai,_

_Sorry to say it, but your laptop crashed due to software issues. Unfortunately, even though I know a bit of JavaScript, I don't deal in that sort of work on a normal basis. I've delegated it to Cress simply because she has a better knowledge of programming._

_And, uh, yeah._

_Cinder._

"Stop writing," Cinder commanded, and Iko sent the email.

Kai was quick to respond.

_Cinder,_

_And, uh, yeah. Very nice._

_Cress is the short, blonde one, right?_

_Kai_

Cress huffed indignantly. "Cinder, write him an email telling him I do _not_ appreciate that!"

_Kai,_

_She says she doesn't appreciate that. She is also willing to claim she is much smarter than you._

_She doesn't use online manuals, at least._

_Cinder._

In the next email she got back, she could practically hear Kai rolling his eyes.

_This again? Seriously?_

_You know what, the head of the finances people is looking at me very oddly. Dad's eying me, too. I keep snorting. _

_Email me later._

Cinder sighed and sat on the hood of one of her cars. She actually owned two, and she couldn't drive anyways, so they mostly hung out in the spacious garage and did nothing.

The old rust bucket, a 'thank-you gift' from one of her clients, groaned under her weight, and Cinder patted it. "Hold up for me, girl."

The car made a few squeaks that sounded like a protest.

"Why do you talk to cars?" Winter asked. "It doesn't make any logical sense."

"Just shush about your logic, Winter," Scarlet said, pinning two scraps of fabric together. In addition to being an artist, there was a whole floor-to-ceiling cabinet dedicated to Scarlet's fashion designing – bolts of fabric, whole boxes of bobbins, and about a billion spools of thread.

Cinder noticed the tiny light on the sewing machine was on. "You making something, Scar?"

"Uh, duh. I'm making your guys' dresses for the masquerade?"

Surprised? Yes_._ Confused? A little. Happy?

Uh, no.

. . . .

**A few notes:**

**. Since a whimsical/slightly crazy sort of Winter doesn't really fit in with my story, I'm basing her more off of Anna from **_**The Mark of the Dragonfly.**_** Who is obsessed with logic and organization, by the way.**

**. Stand-Alone Novel of the Day: **_**The Mark of the Dragonfly**_**, actually. This is a fantastic book about a poor impoverished 13-year-old girl named Piper with no parents who goes on an adventure after she finds an almost-dead girl in a caravan wreck. It's a great book, I just read it recently, and it's sort of action/adventure mixed with some supernatural suspense. **

**. Cinder's chapters will be about half as long as Kai's chapters.**

**. Just Shut Up and Let Me Run is actually the username of one of my friends somewhere. **

**. Kai was emailing Cinder from the finances meeting because he had his replacement laptop open while he was taking notes.**

**. Kai was at a finances meeting because he's the heir to the Emperor company, and his dad expects him to know everything about what's going on.**

**. Cress has a four-year-old sibling because it's an AU.**

**. Machines is spelled mashines in her email address because it's a play on words: Cinder, ash. Machine, m**_**ash**_**ine.**

**And, uh, yeah.**

**Pop a squat!**

**pensandink**


End file.
